Secret Surrender - Review for WCP
Secret Surrender
Wild Child Publishing.com © 2007
Title of Book: Secret Surrender
Author: Lisa Dawn MacDonald
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
ISBN Number: 1-60154-006-X
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: 2006
Author's Website: Lisa Dawn MacDonald’s website
Vivian Ashton has been widowed for just over a year. It has been the longest, hardest year of her life. She had to take a menial job at a flower shop to make ends meet for herself and her three children, two of whom are teenagers and growing up way too fast.
Trevor Ashton has been a playboy most of his adult life and likes it that way. When his brother dies he comes to the aid of his sister-in-law, Vivian, and in the process becomes her best friend. It is natural for him to shoulder the responsibilities of his brother’s family but all too soon he realises he wants more. He starts thinking of Vivian as a desirable woman, as a partner. He wants her in his arms, and in his bed, forever.
Would Trevor and Vivian’s growing love and desire for each other tear her already broken family further apart? Or would it be the bond that brings them back together?
The poignancy of Secret Surrender is very real. We find a mother trying to keep her family together after a devastating loss and leaning heavily on her brother-in-law. I found the growing relationship between Vivian and Trevor to be believable. Ms. MacDonald has done well in layering the friendship between these two so that we see the transition from friendship to lovers. She also does a great job of portraying both Vivian’s journey and that of the children’s reaction to the news of their mother’s new love.
While this is a heart-warming tale of a woman’s second lease on life there were, unfortunately, a few things that stalled the story for me. The head hopping and tense (past and present) changes between the hero and heroine pulled me out of the story time and again, while I figured out who was saying what and what was going on. Then, quite unbelievably to this reader, was the fact that the other man interested in Vivian had one date with her, and only one, before presenting her with a diamond tennis bracelet. One date where I thought her lack of interest was made perfectly clear to him. Even if it wasn’t I find it hard to believe his next step would be to present diamonds! In addition, there was a side storyline in Secret Surrender that left me feeling vaguely unsatisfied but I think that may have more to do with the way I think it should have been handled, rather than the way it was.
I give it 3 cats
Labels: Rating 3
posted by Michelle @ 10:05 a.m.
Comments: 0
